


Wake Up Call

by birthdaycake_storytime_fall



Category: Holby City
Genre: Comfort, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Mentions of Roxanna's Death, Spolier Alert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-02
Updated: 2018-10-02
Packaged: 2019-07-23 19:59:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16165934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/birthdaycake_storytime_fall/pseuds/birthdaycake_storytime_fall
Summary: A one-shot based on spoilers for Inscrutable (02.10.18), set post-ep. Serena is feeling overwhelmed following Roxanna's death and the new F1, Leah, and she calls Bernie.





	Wake Up Call

It was 10 o’clock and Serena was just leaving Albie’s following her birthday drinks, which had been a quiet affair following the news of Roxanna’s sudden death only a few days previously. The new F1, Leah, had struggled with her first day at work on AAU but Serena had been able to guide her through the difficult case. Following her first shift Leah agreed to meeting the rest of the staff for drinks, but even this hadn’t gone to plan as she had begun flirting with Serena.

As Serena walked the 30 minutes back to her house her thoughts raced. Thoughts of poor Roxanna, of Leah, and her sweet Bernie who was thousands and thousands of miles away. Even though Serena had quickly brushed Leah off, telling her that she was planning to marry Bernie, the love of her life, Serena still felt as though she had betrayed Bernie somehow. By the time she arrived home her feelings of guilt were almost overpowering.

As Serena entered her bedroom she glanced at the alarm clock on her bedside table, which read 10:32pm. It would be 2 hours later in Nairobi and Bernie would be fast asleep in preparation for waking up at 5am to start a busy shift at her trauma centre. Serena knew she couldn’t call Bernie and interrupt her sleep just because she was feeling a little lonely, it would be too much to ask Bernie to stay up for hours talking to her on the phone to relieve her guilt. But, she could, of course, leave a voicemail. Bernie was a heavy sleeper, for the most part, so she probably wouldn’t hear the phone call, but it would still give Serena the chance to say her piece.

Serena took her mobile out of her bag and rang Bernie’s number, waiting for it to go to voicemail.

“Hello.” A tried voice came from the other side of the line. “Rena?”

“Bernie? Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you, I was actually just planning to leave a voicemail.” Serena rambled.

“No, that’s fine, did you want to talk?”

Serena explained Roxanna’s death and Leah, getting more and more emotional as she kept talking before Bernie cut her off.

“Serena, you don’t need to apologise for Leah. You didn’t do anything and you told her that you’re spoken for.” Bernie soothed. “You can’t be held accountable. And I’m very sorry for the hospital’s loss, I hear Roxanna was quite the surgeon.”

“I know it’s not my fault, but I still feel guilty. And I’ve bought some flowers for the memorial in the hospital, I’ll sign the notecard from both of us.”

After an hour of talking to each other on the phone, with Bernie being able to relieve most of Serena’s guilt, Bernie was beginning to fall asleep.

“I should let you get off,” Serena whispered, also feeling very tired. “But thank you for talking to me for so long, and sorry again for waking you up in the middle of the night.”

“That’s fine baby, you know I’d talk to you anytime. Happy birthday once again. I’ll call you on Friday.” Bernie replied. “Goodnight.”

Serena bid Bernie goodnight and immediately fell asleep, fully clothed and on top of the duvet.

**Author's Note:**

> For those of you who follow me on tumblr (birthdaycake-storytime-fall) you might remember that I said I wanted to work more on my fic 'When you're not here', but honestly I wasn't really into writing it anymore and I felt that people weren't enjoying reading it either, so I'm going to focus on writing one-shots, and maybe the occasional short story.
> 
> Let me know if you have any requests, I've mainly written Bernie and Serena before, but I can write other characters.
> 
> Also, please leave kudos and comments.


End file.
